


A stranger from Geldura

by Fris



Category: Power Rangers in Space
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-19
Updated: 2018-04-09
Packaged: 2019-03-06 19:05:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 9,425
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13417695
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fris/pseuds/Fris
Summary: They never thought they would go back to earth so soon. At least for Andros it was still too soon.New adventures of the Power Rangers in Space with a character from a different planet.





	1. Meeting someone new

Five years after their earth-adventure, Andros, Karone and Zhane, the Power Rangers, were still traveling through space to help people that needed help, to transport items from one side of the galaxy to the other, and to negotiate trade deals between planets with difficult relations. They took a vacation every once in a while, because being that close to each other all the time can get on people’s nerves.

 

“Could you two just get a room?”

“You know we can’t, only one-person rooms on this ship,” Zhane replied laughingly.

Andros rolled his eyes at him while Karone took Zhane’s hand and began leading him away. All of these motions were stopped short because of an incoming distress call.

“That’s a Galduran call,” said Zhane looking at the screen.

“But it’s coming from…” began Andros pushing a few buttons on the panel in front of him “from earth.”

Zhane and Karone looked at each other behind Andros’ back. They knew he wasn’t over Ashley, even if he would never admit it.

“We have to go there,” Karone said “we have to help.” Zhane and Andros just nodded. They all knew they would have to face going to that planet again. Luckily, they were relatively nearby, so it took them just a few minutes to reach earth. In that time, they found some new clothing and geared up, ready for a rescue mission.

 

They landed in the woods but the distress signal was getting weaker. They had to be quick to find the person who had send it. Karone kept on the path through the thickly wooded area, while Zhane walked into the woods to her right and Andros to her left. It was Zhane who found something in a clearing. He yelled for Karone and Andros to join him while he tried to find out what was going on.

“What are you doing here?” he asked the person crouching beside an unconscious body.

“She called me,” the voice was a lot less cheerful than it used to be. Zhane wondered if it was age or just circumstances that had done it.

“You know her?” It was an obvious next question.

“We work together, or rather she works for me.”

“Cassie!” Karone, called out as soon as she reached the clearing. She couldn’t hide her enthusiasm to see her old friend again.

Cassie gave a weak smile and focused back on the woman lying on the ground.

“She called me that she was feeling unwell and asked if I could come find her. She hasn’t been herself lately. A few times she looked like she was going to tell me something but she never did.” She explained while gently rolling the woman on her back. “But why are you here?”

“We were tracking a Galduran distress call,” Andros explained “it is coming from her.”

“Never heard of that planet,” Cassie said after a short silence while shaking her head.

“I think we should take her to the ship,” Karone said. She had become somewhat of a medical expert over the years, “We can put her in the medical bay and try to find out why she is here. It must have something to do with you, if you’re working together.”

Cassie nodded her head at this. “Her name is Eir,” she quickly said as Zhane lifted the unconscious woman and asked DECA to take him aboard the Megaship.

After Zhane and Karone had disappeared, Cassie found that Andros was still standing in front of her. She was a little startled by his looks. He seemed to have gone back to the quiet boy she met, in stead of the young man they had left those years ago.

“How are you?” She asked gently. Andros didn’t really reply, just nodded his head and shrugged his shoulders.

“Maybe…” Cassie said “when she’s awake, or safe at least, we can all have a meal together. The old gang. We still all live in Angel Grove.”

Again, Andros didn’t really answer but Cassie could see in his eyes, that he wanted to know how Ashley was doing. But Cassie did not want to be the one to break the news to him.

Before leaving Andros quickly and silently gave Cassie her old morpher. She looked at him with a question written on her face. “So you can contact us,” he explained “for dinner.”

As he disappeared back to his ship she wondered if, and then how, he had known she would be there.

For now, there was nothing to it but for her to go back to the office and finish her work for today.


	2. Changes

It was a few stressful days before the woman, Eir, became partly conscious. Karone was with her most of the time but Zhane took over when she had to sleep and Andros pitched in whenever he felt like it. He liked talking to someone who didn’t respond to him. Zhane always tried to be funny and Karone was just too caring mostly. He liked that he could vent without getting the responses he could predict by now.

Of course, it happened when no-one was in the room. Eir had been laying on her back since they had put her in the bed on the medical bay. Karone had taken her clothes of and put her in a comfortable pair of pants and a sleeveless shirt so they had access to her arms for bloodwork and monitoring her heartrate.

 

“I don’t want to leave her by herself,” Karone said, not for the first time, to both Andros and Zhane, “what if she wakes up just when we aren’t here? What if whatever caused this, finds her and comes here?” She had planted her fists on her hips to make her point clearer.

“We need you there,” said Zhane, because Andros wasn’t saying anything “you and Cassie and Ashley were close friends. You are good at small talk and ask the right questions. We need you.” He said again while he walked up to her and took her hands.

“You don’t need me there,” she said, looking past him “Andros does. But he’s afraid to say it. Maybe he can stay here while we go to Earth?” Zhane shook his head. Although the plan made perfect sense, he knew Andros wanted to see Ashley with his own eyes.

“The dinner is tomorrow, we have to have a plan,” Zhane said turning to Andros who was walking away. “What’s with you?” he asked of his friend “This is so not like you.”

“I don’t know,” Andros murmured under his breath “I guess I….”

“Still have feelings for Ashley,” Zhane finished his sentence.

“Wish you had never left Earth,” was Karone’s try.

Andros shook his head: “None of those. I’ll go check on Eir.” He walked away before they could say any more.

“I know,” Karone suddenly exclaimed after a short while of looking through status reports “Why don’t we invite them here? Than we can keep an eye on Eir. And they have lived on the Megaship, maybe they would like to see their old home again.”

“That’s a great idea,” Zhane said while jumping from his seat “I’ll communicate with Cassie right now.”

 

The date had been set for the next day so there was little time for preparations. They changed the Simudeck into a great dining room, something in the middle of the great halls they were used to wherever they travelled and a cosy room they knew the others were used to. Karone and Zhane dressed in new clothes; it had been their excuse to go to Earth to buy them. Andros kept to his uniform.

Zhane had been right, they did need Karone to be there. After the small talk and the ‘how-have-you-beens’, she was the one who explained what the three of them had been doing the last few years and the one to ask what had happened on Earth.

Luckily all attacks had on Earth had stopped. Apparently, the enemies Karone, Zhane and Andros still encountered every week, did not think Earth was worth their while. They had all picked up their lives where they had left of. After finishing the last few weeks of High School, they had gone their separate ways. But because they all still lived in Angel Grove, they still saw each other every once in a while, and tried to meet up once a month.

TJ was studying to be an engineer at the Angel Grove College. He had had some delays in his studies but was looking at a graduation in the next year. Carlos had studied to become a PE teacher. He was now doing an internship at the High School, with a change to get a job offer as soon as he had finished. Ashley was a stay-at-home wife, to another former Power Ranger, but she occasionally styled her friends clothes or got a job as personal shopper. She tried to stay on top of fashion and was happy to be home taking care of their pets. Cassie had her own company. The brand name was ‘Out of this world’. It had started as a show about dance moves mixed with combat moves. From there it had evolved to a cookbook in which she replicated foods she had tasted as a Ranger but with Earth grown produce. Now they were working on a line of clothing, especially sportswear.

No-one expected the attack warning DECA emanated. They all started at hearing the familiar noise. Ashley seemed glued to her seat while Carlos gripped the edge of the table. TJ jumped up and Karone walked over to end the dining room simulation. Andros had left the room before anyone realised what was going on. Zhane and Cassie quickly walked after him.

On the viewing screen Zhane and Cassie could see figures in black clothes wreaking havoc. They seemed to be looking for someone in particular and their minds immediately went to Eir. On a small screen to their right, they could see her still lying on her back in the medical bay. Nothing had changed about her.

The bridge seemed crowded when the others joined the first three there. Andros looked around for Zhane and Karone, signalling with his eyes that it was time for them to do something about the black figures. When Andros walked towards the elevator, TJ gripped his upper arm. “Let us help,” he said, backed up by the rest of the former rangers. Andros quickly shook the hand off: “No need, we got this.” He couldn’t look into TJ’s eyes. Andros had gotten used to feeling alone but fighting with Zhane and Karone. Although he still didn’t really like his little sister fighting alongside him, he preferred her definite skills to the skills the other four maybe still had.

 

It was a tough fight and because after they looked for clues as to who the figures were and where they had come from, it was getting late by the time they got back to the Megaship. TJ, Carlos and Ashley left as soon as they set foot on the bridge. They had wanted to go back home sooner but didn’t want to offend them by leaving while they were out fighting. Cassie stayed. She wanted to talk about Eir. She missed having her around at work and other people had started asking about her. Cassie had told everyone she had send Eir to Europe for a very long journey to find inspiration for the brand.

Cassie went to the medical bay with Karone. “She looks so different,” Cassie said “but I can’t put my finger on what it actually is. Maybe it just because I haven’t seen her in a while.” While Karone looked around for some different medicines to put on the small scrapes and bruises she and the two guys had sustained during the fight, Cassie sat next to Eir’s bed talking to her.

“I could really use your advice right know,” Cassie said with a little sigh, “Meghan and Trevor keep arguing about the colours of the samples and they are not even listening to me. Maybe I should spend more time on the clothes instead of the next cookbook. I’m sort of stuck there anyway. I can’t seem to find the one ingredient I need of three dishes.” She gave another deep sigh before getting up from the chair: “But I shouldn’t bother you with this kind of thing, you can probably hear me.” Karone placed a hand on Cassie’s back. It was a comforting gesture but Karone also even so slightly pushed Cassie out of the room.

“I’m sorry,” Cassie said looking back one more time. “It’s okay,” Karone smiled “but maybe you can ask Ashley to help you with the clothing stuff. She seems to know about fashion and you used to work great together.” Cassie’s face lit up: “That’s a perfect idea.” She almost yelled it into Karone’s face. Then her eyes narrowed before opening as wide as they could: “Her hair. That’s what’s different. Her hair used to be brown, just dull brown. It’s the most beautiful dark red colour now.” Karone agreed that the colour was very nice but couldn’t remember seeing Eir with a different hair colour.

After Cassie had said goodbye to the guys and thanked all three of them for taking care of Eir, she left. Karone helped her brother and her boyfriend with their small wounds and went back to the medical bay to put the supplies away again. She didn’t like a messy ship, just like Andros, very unlike Zhane. When she got back in the room, something was different. It took her a little while before she realised that Eir was now lying on her side instead of on her back.


	3. After the long slumber

It was a few days more until Eir actually woke up. Cassie and TJ were with her on a visit. Maybe she recognized their voices and that’s why she opened her eyes. They went the size of saucers when Eir looked around and saw all the machinery of the medical bay.

Before Eir could say a word, Cassie explained to her what had happened, where she was and how she got there. Eir nodded while Cassie talked but Cassie couldn’t quite understand if Eir understood all of it or knew all of it because she had heard them talk while she was unconscious.

Eventually Cassie kept quiet. She waited for a reaction from Eir but all she did was wait with expectation in her eyes. She seemed to know there was something wrong with her that the scanners hadn’t picked up on.

“Say something,” Cassie said after almost a minute of silence. TJ had gone out of the room, and was looking for Karone to introduce her to Eir. Eir opened her mouth and her lips moved but no sound escaped her throat. Cassie was stunned but Eir just lifted up her shoulders as if to say I knew this would happen.

TJ entered the room with Karone. He started to talking to Eir but Cassie interrupted him by almost clinging to Karone while saying: “She can’t talk. Why didn’t you know about this? Is it permanent? Run some scans, do something.”

Karone ignored the energetic Cassie and went up to the bed in which Eir still lay: “Hey, my name is Karone,” she said while shaking Eir’s hand, it was a greeting she had learned on Earth and though Eir wasn’t originally from that planet, she had been living there for a while now, “You might recognise my voice. I’m sort of the medic on this ship.” Eir nodded, she did recognise Karone’s soft voice. She had had the habit of speaking to Eir to make herself feel less lonely in the dark hours of the night she had looked after the smaller woman.

“There are some questions I have for you” Karone continued “maybe it is best if you two leave us alone for a bit.” She turned around to face TJ and Cassie, who had a tight grip on TJ arm to hide most of her feelings. TJ nodded his head: “Yeah, Cassie needs some soothing tea or something.” He opened the door and almost shoved her out in front of himself. He rubbed his arm while still keeping Cassie moving out of the room and towards the bridge.

Karone sat down on a chair next to the bed with a datapad on her lap. She smiled at Eir: “I don’t really know where to start, usually my brother takes care of these sort of things.” She looked through the datapad and was lost in thought for a few seconds. When she looked back at Eir, the young woman in the bed was looking at her with a silly expression on her face. Karone laughed a little: “Yeah, you don’t really know what to do either, right?” Eir shrugged her shoulders after she had sat up. She was a little light headed from laying down so long, so Karone held onto her shoulders for a second.

“Alright?” Karone asked after the other woman stopped shaking. Eir nodded, the faintness had passed. She looked at Karone and with one hand traced a circle around her face. Karone didn’t understand what she meant. Eir held her hand flat in front of her face and then traced another circle around her face.

“A mirror?” Karone wasn’t convinced that was the answer but tried anyway. Eir nodded her head. Karone went out to get a mirror wondering what Eir would want with it. She remembered Cassie saying something about the fact that Eir looked different. Maybe the woman in the medical bay could feel something different about herself, except for the fact she had no voice anymore.

When Karone was almost back at the medical bay, she bumped into Andros. Literally bumped into him. She was so lost in thought, she didn’t see or hear him coming. He caught his sister before something back could happen. Karone clutched the mirror to herself.

“What are you doing with that?” Andros asked after he had let go of Karone.

“Eir is awake,” Karone explained “she asked for a mirror.” She walked past Andros, who she knew would follow her: “Well, she didn’t really ASK for a mirror but she wants one. She lost her voice.” Andros couldn’t quite follow everything Karone was saying but his interest was peeked so he followed her back into the room where Eir was waiting.

Karone introduced Andros to her and handed her the mirror. She ignored Andros and looked at herself while her cheeks glowed a little. She ran a hand through her own hair and held the mirror close to her face to look at her eyes. Cassie had told them Eir’s hair had had a different colour but now Karone started to think she may have altered more of her looks, but it was Andros who voiced the idea: “Did you change your looks while you were on Earth?” Eir nodded her head, she opened her mouth to explain but words still would not come. Andros took the datapad that was now sitting on the chair. He pulled up the footage from their last fight, the one during which Eir had moved for the first time.

“They are from your planet, right?” Andros asked Eir while showing her one of the creatures they had fought “From Geldura?” Eir nodded her head slowly before running one hand over her face. She had avoided her enemies for a few years but they had found her now and she didn’t really know what to do. She couldn’t explain anything that had happened to the people who had found and rescued her. She knew she needed further protection but she was reluctant to put anyone else in danger.

Eir wanted to get up from the bed but Andros stopped her. “You’re staying right there,” he said firmly, “you need more rest and these creatures are not more than we can handle. We are still Power Rangers.” Eir’s eyes widened at the word. Karone slapped her brother’s arm: “She didn’t know. She still might…” Before she could finish that sentence, Cassie came walking into the room, followed by TJ and Zhane who were trying to stop her.

“You look so different,” Cassie said while giving Eir a hug. Eir slowly nodded her head, pointing at the mirror. She knew her looks had gone back to normal because there was no need to hide here.

In the commotion Andros made his way to the door. He stopped in the doorway, turned around to everyone and said: “She is staying here for now. At least until she can talk again. Maybe she can help us defeat these new monsters.” Before anyone could object, the door slid close behind him. Only Eir wanted to object but of course she still couldn’t. She was afraid to stay and endanger her friends but she was even more afraid of having to go back to the Earth’s surface and face what was waiting for her there.


	4. Communication

“I don’t understand.”

Eir sighed to calm herself down before trying again. She held her hand, palms up, at shoulder height, then she pointed at herself and the door of the medical bay and lastly, she pointed at Karone and down the hall, in the direction of their bedrooms.

“You sleep here, and we sleep down the hall,” Karone said “you’re right but I don’t know what else you mean.”

Eir shuddered a little from the frustration that was building up in her and then tried again, this time adding a question mark at the end of the sequence.

Karone held her chin in thought but still wasn’t really getting there. Andros walked by and said: “She is asking WHY she has to sleep in the medical bay, while we have our own rooms.”

A few days had passed again. Eir was fully recovered, except for her voice. Karone still ran small tests every day to try and find out what was wrong with Eir but most of the time the girl from Geldura roamed around the ship, getting acquainted with the technology and helping out whenever she could.

“I think we have a room to spare,” Karone said thinking out loud, “but I don’t have time to prepare it for you. Maybe Andros can help.” As soon as Andros heard his name, his pace quickened to get out of the way before Karone found him.

“Andros!” she called after him, “I have to go help Carlos, with Ashley and Zhane. He has to do this big sporting event for multiple classes and they need more women to help.” She caught up with him a little down the hall, out of Eir’s earshot: “You seem to get her a lot better than I do. Please help me.” Karone put on her puppy-dog eyes because she knew her big brother couldn’t resist them.

“Fine,” Andros said “I guess this can wait a while.” He closed a panel in the wall and placed the device he was using in his pocket, Karone wasn’t sure what the device even was, let alone what Andros had been doing with it. They walked back down the hall together, Karone whispering a lot of thank you’s at Andros. He couldn’t help but smile at the thought that he could still help his sister with things.

“Okay,” Andros said as soon as they had reached Eir, who still stood outside the medical bay waiting with her arms crossed before her, “You wait in there. I have to go see which room to use and I probably have to empty and clean it.” Eir wanted to resist. Not only did she not want to spend one more minute in the medical bay if she didn’t have to, she also wanted to help Andros. She knew he hated cleaning but she didn’t mind to much. “No,” Andros said resolutely “I don’t know what’s in that room, I have to look through everything and put it somewhere else, I do not want you walking in my way.” Eir’s face dropped. She couldn’t look at Andros while he said she would be in his way. It made her feel like a burden. “But,” Andros followed “you can do THIS.” He handed her a stack of empty pages and two pens: “Go write down everything that you remember of what happened. I want to know why you left Geldura, how and when you arrived at Earth, why you went there, everything about the attack…” Before he could even finish his sentence, Eir took the papers and walked into the medical bay with slouched shoulders.

“You were to tough on her,” Karone told Andros as soon as the door had closed.

Andros shrugged his shoulders: “It’s the only way we are going to know what happened.”

“But you could have asked nicely,” Karone said.

Andros shook his head before walking away, claiming he had a lot of work to do.

It took Andros more than an hour to empty and clean the room he had intended for Eir. It was the last room in the corridor. It hadn’t been used in a long time because there hadn’t been a green ranger in forever. Andros even wondered why there was a green room, because the green morpher had disappeared a long time ago. It was probably destroyed in some war or other.

He returned to the medical bay to tell Eir her room was ready. Before the door was completely open, his eyes grew big because of the mess he saw. All over the floor there was paper. Most of it was crunched up in a ball but some where just thrown down. Most of the paper was empty, some had a few scribbles on it but there was nothing legible.

“What the…,” Andros said a little angry “What have you been doing all this time? Have you even tried?” Eir held her back to Andros although she wondered if he would even notice she had been crying. She had pleaded DECA not to tell Andros what was happening in the room.

“Come on,” Andros suddenly said “I haven’t been working for nothing.” It was another stab at her but Eir followed Andros anyway. She was very glad she could finally get out of the medical bay, because the place kept reminding her of the fact she was still not completely well. She had gotten used to her own silence but was getting frustrated with not being able to tell her story or help the rangers in more ways.

 

Andros picked up the work he had been doing when Karone had asked for his help. He was very frustrated with Eir, believing she hadn’t really tried writing. Karone and Zhane had to seriously look for Andros when they came back. Karone had first brought Eir a suitcase that Cassie had packed for her.

Zhane found eventually found Andros in the engine room. He was sitting on the ground with an open panel next to him but he didn’t really seem to be doing anything other than grumbling to himself. He had cleaned up the medical bay, stacking all the unused paper and putting the rest in the recycling bin.

Zhane told Andros about Carlos’s sporting event. He tried to keep his tone light to get Andros out of his mood but that was a lot more impossible than it had been a few years ago. Andros was back to his super serious self and didn’t really want to share his feelings.

When Karone joined the two and asked Andros about what Eir had written, Andros almost jumped up and walked to the bridge.

“She didn’t even try,” was all Andros could say to begin with.

“Show me,” Karone said “Where are the papers?”

“I tossed them out,” Andros said “There were just scribbles on them, if anything.”

Karone almost shook her head at her brother in disbelief. Zhane asked DECA to show them the footage of Eir in the medical bay with the papers. DECA first showed them the end, when Andros walked in to find almost all of the paper on the floor.

“See,” Andros began “all empty.”

“She was crying,” Karone noticed right away “DECA show of the whole thing from the beginning please.”

DECA did as she was asked. The computer had promised Eir to not tell Andros anything while she was trying to write but she hadn’t promised to not show the footage.

Karone and Zhane looked at the screen and saw how Eir had tried to put pen to paper but it was like two magnets pushing each other away. However hard she tried, at first, she could not get the pen onto the paper. Later in the hour, she was able to make the pen and paper touch but when she tried to move the pen and write, it shot of to the side, leaving nothing but a few scribbles.

“Look,” Zhane said to Andros while placing a hand on his shoulder. Andros hadn’t been watching the footage, still angry.

“How could this happen?” Zhane asked himself more than anyone else “Or how could this not happen?”

“You need to apologize,” Karone walked up to her brother and poked a finger at him.

Andros looked at the screen in disbelieve for a while until he could see himself walking into the room that contained a crying Eir and being angry with her. He blushed a little before admitting he should’ve looked at the evidence before reacting the way he did. Karone walked him to Eir’s new room but left him alone to walk the last few meters.

DECA had already informed Eir that someone was approaching her door, so she was waiting for Andros within. Andros had trouble with getting the words out. He thought that now he might know what Eir had been feeling these last few days, wanting to convey a message but unable to find the words. Eventually he apologized for his behaviour and told Eir they had looked at the footage. But before he could ask why she also wasn’t able to write, she looked him in the eyes and signed something. She brought her right hand from her lips forward. Andros just shook his head because he didn’t understand. Eir stepped back into her room and picked up a book from her desk.

“American Sign Language,” Andros read when Eir showed him the book. Eir leafed through to find the page she wanted and showed Andros she had just signed ‘thank you’.

“Well,” Andros said “This is easy. Even if we don’t learn this language, you can point at the pictures to show us what it is you want to say.” Eir nodded her head while smiling.

“Okay then, I’ll leave you to it.” Andros walked away, not having said all he wanted to. At least they had a way to communicate now. He went to the bridge to tell Zhane and Karone, who were both still deep in thought about Eir’s attempts at writing.

 

“DECA, can you tell Eir dinner is ready?” Karone asked the computer while placing a big pot on the table. Since Eir was now up and about, and able to communicate with them, Karone found it important that they should eat together to get to know each other. The last few days they had seem Eir more as a test subject or a patient than an actual person.

“Eir is not responding to my calls,” DECA was heard to say “And I detect a fire in her area.”

“Why haven’t you said anything before?” Karone asked while Zhane and Andros turned around while walking into the room, to make their way to the sleeping quarters. Before they took a step, Eir came running in with the sign language book in her hands. The book was on fire but Eir was still able to hold it.

“Drop it!” Zhane shouted while slamming the book out of Eir’s hands. Before Andros was close enough to use the fire extinguisher he had picked up, the book was burned to ashes. Eir dropped to her knees with tears in her eyes. Karone quickly put an arm around her and pushed her back to her feet and in the direction of the medical bay to take care of the burns that were visible on her hands.

Zhane and Andros were left to clean up the burned remains of the book.

“It looks weird,” Zhane said while crouching down next to the little heap of ashes. He picked up a small piece of paper that was charred but still complete. It had the word ‘thank’ on it and the bottom part of the picture that had accompanied the word. He rubbed the paper between his fingers and then smelled the paper.

“It does not smell burned,” he said “and how could it just combust?”

Andros asked DECA for the footage of Eir’s room at the time of the fire.

“I’m sorry Andros,” the voice said “I can’t seem to able to find any images from Eir’s room at that time.”

The guys looked at each other with even more questions written on their faces. But with Eir back in the medical bay, and without the book, they knew it could take a while before they would get answers.


	5. A Shocking Revelation

In the next few days, they would find Eir on the bridge, looking through the history of every message and battle-footage that was stored in the computer. At first Andros wondered how she had gotten access to it but before he could say anything about it, Zhane and Karone advised him to keep quiet. Now Eir had lost her book, it was a good way for her to spend time and she might find some clues for defeating the new enemies.

Zhane, Karone and Andros came back from another battle. The Gelduran enemies seemed to be attacking almost every day now, desperately in search for Eir. As long as this went on Andros did not let Eir go to Earth for anything. It was for her own safety but it meant she really was cooped up on the ship. When they got back to the bridge, sweating and bruised but not very much hurt, they found Eir standing in front of the big viewing screen, still looking at footage from the battle. She opened her arms to include all of them and then asked if they would teach her to fight. Karone thought it to dangerous, she didn’t want Eir running off to try and fight on her own. Andros just wondered how she had survived alone in the galaxy until now, if she didn’t know how to fight. It was Zhane who was the first to agree. While Karone was trying to talk Eir out of the idea, he had seen the distress and desperation on her face. Eir was scared and she wanted to be able to defend herself.

There was only one thing bothering both Karone and Zhane. Andros wasn’t really thinking about it because he did not intend to help. Eir wasn’t very tall, in fact she was shorter than Karone, Zhane and Andros. When they asked the former Earth rangers for help, they noticed even Ashley was taller than Eir. TJ completely towered over her. They all had to work together to find the best fighting style for Eir. Her height was a challenge for them, but not one they couldn’t overcome.

Karone was happy to see Eir occupied with something else than just the ships computer. Andros used the times Eir was busy, to try to figure out how she had so easily taken control of the ships database. DECA didn’t help him much. Though the two of them had worked together a lot in the past, Andros felt DECA was now helping and protecting Eir. He wondered why but knew he couldn’t find an answer. It frustrated him so much, he tried to stay out of Eirs way. He didn’t want to cause any trouble between them and by now he wasn’t the only one trying to protect her.

 

It was a few weeks after the burning book incident that Karone, Zhane and Andros came back from another tough fight, to find Eir laying on the ground at the back of the bridge. Zhane lifted her from the ground and he and Karone made their way back to the medical bay to find out what had happened to Eir. Andros looked into one of DECA’s eyes and said: “You have to tell me what the two of you are doing sooner rather than later.” DECA just blinked, seemingly preoccupied with something Andros couldn’t see. He pushed some buttons on the control panel in front of him and found there had been a burst of activity through it, a few minutes before they had gotten back to the ship. Before he could find out any more, he heard a door open behind him. When he turned around to see who was coming into the room, he found some soot-like material on his fingers.

“She was electrocuted,” Zhane said, his tone showed his confusion “Enough to knock her out but not enough to cause any damage. She will be fine in a few hours.” Andros showed Zhane his fingers: “That explains this, and the surge of energy that went through this panel just a little while ago.”

“Anything else?” Zhane asked without much hope. Andros pressed a few buttons again, looking closely where Eir’s fingers had left prints. Suddenly on the large viewing screen, a file appeared. It was a pictogram with the title: ‘Must read but be careful’. Zhane and Andros looked at each other in surprise.

“I’ll get Karone,” Zhane said while he was already walking towards the door. Andros kept wondering what the file contained. A few times he almost pressed the button to look at the file but he knew it was better to wait for his sister and his best friend.

It only took them a few minutes to come back. Eir was in the medical bay sleeping and being monitored by DECA. Andros was still standing in the middle of the panel. Karone stood at his right, while Zhane took a place at his left. They looked at each other, one by one, anticipating the worst. It was Karone who finally pushed the button, when she realised Andros wouldn’t.

The file contained a short compilation of images from different fights and conversations that were stored in the ships database. They had to watch it twice before they understood what was spelled out. A small child who had made an alphabet about the Power Rangers said the letter ‘I’. Then a psycho ranger barely noticeably said ‘am’. Next a newsreporter, with a picture of the lake in Angel Grove in the background, said: ‘under’. Next some random footage of a battle long ago where someone had said: ‘a’. Then the kid with the alphabet was back to spell out: ‘C-U-R-S-E’.

There was a long silence while the rangers let the words sink in. Whoever had attacked Eir had put her under some sort of curse, that was why she couldn’t speak. But none of them had any clue as to how to break a curse. None of them had any experience with magic at all. It was DECA who broke the silence with a report that Eir was awake again. Karone hurriedly went to the medical bay. Zhane walked over to DECA’s communication device and called Cassie to ask her, and the other former rangers, to come to the ship. He hoped there was some way they knew more than the rangers now on the ship. Andros just stood there. They seemed to have all the pieces of the puzzle but he couldn’t see any way in which they would all fit together.


	6. A message from Geldura

Karone helped Eir into her own bed but ordered her to stay there. She didn’t like bossing the smaller woman around but Zhane had told her the rangers were on their way and that they all needed to talk. Karone had figured it was about Eir, so she had to stay away for a little while. Karone was still thinking of an excuse that would convince Eir that she had to stay in bed. She was placing some water and some painkillers on the nightstand. When she turned back around to Eir, to tell her she had to stay out of sight because of visitors from another planet, which was not really a lie, she noticed Eir was asleep in her bed. Karone sighed with relief before exiting the room.

 

“A curse?”

“Like magic?”

“It all sounds like a fairytale” TJ said. He wasn’t the only one who couldn’t quite wrap his head around what was happening.

“Magic isn’t real,” Ashley said “not on this planet at least.”

Cassie hadn’t said anything since hearing what had happened just a few hours ago. She sat wide-eyed, as if she was watching a movie.

“We don’t know how to handle this,” TJ said, raising his hands in apology. Karone let out a deep sigh, she really had hoped the Earth rangers would know more about magic that they did. But apparently magic wasn’t real on this planet either.

“Someone has to know something,” Zhane said “we have had contact with so many different people, from so many different planets, why haven’t we heard about something like this before?” He turned to Karone and Andros but both of them were not really listening to Zhane. Karone was wondering what Eir would be able to tell them, while Andros was thinking about the call he had answered while they were waiting for the others to join them on the ship.

“We have to do something to help her,” Carlos said “she was so determined, in my lessons at least. You told us she helps around the ship. We have to do something.”

“More and more people are asking me about what she is doing in Europe,” Cassies voice sounded somewhat hollow, “They’re asking for evidence, you know photos and stuff. And they ask when she’s coming back. It’s time I have something to tell them. The truth. Maybe she shouldn’t come back to Earth.” Her face dropped when she said it but right now, it was the only solution she could think of.

“But she has nowhere else to go!” Karone jumped up from her seat. Andros put a hand on her shoulder and pushed her back into it. He was still contemplating his idea but for the peace in the room he decided very quickly to tell the others about his call.

He cleared his throat before saying: “I had a call from our commander. He wants us back on KO-35 in a week for a conference. All our trading relations will be there and because we have had contact with almost all of them, we need to go back home.”

The room was silent for a while. Andros looked from one of them to the other and realised the point he had been trying to make without saying it, wasn’t sinking in. He cleared his throat again, he didn’t really want to say this but he had to: “And because so many important people from across the universe will be there, we can’t take Eir with us.” He had squared his shoulders before saying this but still the reaction hit him hard.

Karone and Cassie had tears in their eyes.

“You can’t do that to her.”

“Where’s your heart.”

“I thought you liked her as much as we do.”

Andros didn’t know who was saying what but it hurt him. He did like Eir and he wanted to protect her, but the safety of his home planet, and of the universe in some degree, was more important to him. He didn’t know how he could help everyone at the same time. It took him a few seconds to notice that Karone had gone. He knew exactly what she was doing and he was dreading it immensely.

Eir looked sleepy as she walked into the room, closely followed by Karone. Her face turned from sleepy to happy when she saw Cassie sitting at the table. She smiled as she walked over to Cassie and gave her a hug. The tension in the room was very high, but Eir either didn’t notice or was very good at pretending not to notice. She signed to Cassie to ask how she was doing but Cassie wasn’t as good at keeping a straight face and told Eir everything they had been discussing before she entered the room.

When Cassie had finished, Eir was still smiling. Almost everyone was looking at her because they had not expected this reaction. Eir signed something but no-one quite got was she was trying to say. As almost always it was Andros who understood but he wasn’t really liking what Eir was saying. Andros stayed quite for a while longer but when it was clear the others could not understand, he stepped in.

“I think she trying to say,” Andros said with some reluctance “that she understands she can’t come with us. And she doesn’t want to.” Eir was nodding her head while Andros talked, to confirm that that was indeed what she had been trying to say.

“But where will you go?” Karone’s voice sounded small. She had enjoyed not being the only woman on the ship. She knew Eir had to leave at some point but she hadn’t expected it to happen while Eir still hadn’t found her voice.

“Maybe she should go to Europe,” it was Carlos who opted this. It did make some sense but they also knew Eir probably couldn’t cope with a new continent if she couldn’t talk.

Eir was waving her hands in the air again, trying to be seen and heard when suddenly the alarm went off. Before anyone else had time to respond, Andros was at the controls, asking DECA what was happening. Karone and Zhane joined him quickly before all three of them headed to the door to fight the Gelduran enemies who had showed themselves on Earth again.

“Are you sure you don’t need our help?” TJ had gotten a hold of Andros’ arm before he could run away.

“We’ll handle it,” Andros said with a cross look on his face. TJ let out a deep sigh while releasing the other man. Andros had definitely gone back to his old self, the one that wanted to do everything on his own and who thought he didn’t need any friends.

 

They all watched the battle on the viewing screen. Eir had ordered DECA to let her follow everything that was going on and DECA helped Eir as best she could. TJ was standing next to Eir, dodging and throwing punches in the air like a small child pretending to be a ranger. Carlos and Cassie had sat down and were still discussing what to do about Eir. They spoke so softly Eir couldn’t hear them. Ashley was on her phone, talking to her husband about some appointment they had to go to the next day.

Half an hour into the battle, Karone called for help. Andros was laying on the ground, almost to hurt to still stand and Zhane was surrounded by a lot of enemies. Karone told the Earth rangers where their morphers were kept and they quickly joined the battle.

Eir was still watching on the big screen, wondering how she could help. Leaving seemed to be her best option. If she left the planet, hopefully her enemies would follow her. She couldn’t stay in hiding forever. Another option was the meeting on KO-35 but she knew Andros didn’t want her there. She was deep in thought when a voice could be heard on the screen. Chills ran down her spine and she looked up in horror. In the middle of the battle, a new enemy had revealed itself. A large cloaked figure was standing there. Long light blond hair was flowing out of their hood, but that was the only feature that could be seen. They didn’t do much. The figure just seemed to stand there, sizing up the rangers. Eventually they slowly walked over to Andros and grabbed him by the throat. Bringing their face very close to Andros’ helmet, it hissed a message at him: “Tell Eir she can’t do this on her own. She needs her people to break this curse.”

As soon as they had said this, they let go of Andros and before he hit the ground, every Gelduran had vanished. Karone and Zhane ran over to Andros.

“What happened?” Ashley asked after she had joined them. Andros told them about this message and they all agreed that this was a big influence on what had to be done for Eir. They decided not to tell her what had happened yet, but they didn’t know she had seen all of it and was now hiding in her room, terrified of this new threat.


	7. A connection

In the next week, when Zhane and Karone weren’t around, Andros would keep an eye on Eir. Not personally, he didn’t want to intrude her personal space but he asked DECA where she was and if the computer knew what the other person was doing. He slightly felt like he was losing control of his ship but, because DECA was helping Eir, he didn’t mind too much. He just wanted to know what she was doing in case something went wrong or she needed help with anything.

Eir had been on the Simudeck for almost two hours already and DECA didn’t know what she had programmed as an environment. Andros was a little worried because the Simudeck was mostly voice-activated. He wondered how Eir had been able to program it. Even DECA couldn’t answer the question because Eir had somehow hidden all she had programmed and done before activating whatever it was.

Eventually Andros decided to just walk into the room. When she heard the door open, Eir put down the book she was holding. “It’s me,” Andros called out into the seemingly empty room, “just wondering if you’re not hungry.” He had come up with the excuse very quickly, something he usually wasn’t very good at. Eir pressed a few buttons on a panel and Andros appeared in her conjured-up room. It was a library of some sorts.

“Is this from Geldura?” Andros asked after looking around the room. It wasn’t a very big room but the walls were lined with bookcases. There were a lot of plants scattered about the room. Andros thought the room even smelled different than it usually did. The air was filled with the scent of old books and greenness. Eir nodded her head. At least she could still do that without being punished. Andros glanced at the book she had been reading before he came in. He didn’t want to intrude on her but she had let him into the room. The book was about telekinesis. He frowned while looking at her. If she was telekinetic, could they communicate that way? He was almost afraid to ask when she started to signal from the book to him. He almost forgot he could talk, even if she couldn’t. It took him a while to form the sentence: “Yes, I’m telekinetic. So are Zhane and Karone.” For the first time since they had met, Eir looked relieved.

She motioned her hand between them. Was she allowed to try something on Andros? His answer was obvious to him but he still voiced it: “Sure, if you think it will work.” He was afraid she would hurt herself but didn’t say it because this might be their only way of communicating. He was with her, so could help if something happened. It bothered him just a little that DECA apparently couldn’t see them. He just wanted to say something about this when Eir stepped closer timidly. He bowed his head just a little, to better see what she was going to do. Their heights didn’t differ too much luckily. She placed her forehead again his, to make the connection easier. Apparently, things worked a little different for Eir than they did on KO-35. Andros felt awkward being this close to Eir but she didn’t seem to phased by it. She had closed her eyes as soon as their foreheads had touched.

As soon as Andros closed his eyes as well, he began seeing colours and shapes in his mind’s eye. He startled a little because it was so different than he had expected. The colours were mostly dark and a lot of greens. The shapes started of small and insignificant but quickly blended together to make larger shapes and images Andros had never seen before. Eir placed her hand on the back of Andros’ neck. He wondered if it was to hold him there or to stop herself from pulling away but it wasn’t really affecting him. He could see some strange images, probably all from Geldura. He didn’t feel any discomfort or pain but it was a good thing that his eyes were closed. If he could have seen the pain on Eir’s face, he would have stopped her very quickly. It all ended with an image of a very humanoid person. Their skin was black with a tinge of blue flitting over the surface. They had an angry look on their face, although their eyes were wide open.

As soon as the image disappeared, Andros noticed that one of his hands was on Eir’s hip and the other on her upper arm. He wanted to let go but she fell towards him. Usually Zhane carried her when necessary, but he couldn’t leave her here. Andros was very uncomfortable with having someone this close to him but he carried her away from the Simudeck. Instead of putting her in the medical bay, he put her down on her own bed. He quickly found a blanket and put that on top of her, before leaving her alone to recover.

He paces up and down the hallway where their bedrooms where and then up and down the bridge, waiting for Karone and Zhane to come back. He told them everything as soon as they set foot on the ship. He tried to explain all he had seen, as best he could but it was hard for him to make sense of the colours and shapes he had seen. This could be the only information they were ever going to get, to help Eir get her voice back. Karone and Zhane couldn’t even really follow what he was saying, let alone help him make sense of what he had seen.

Andros still wanted to help Eir but couldn’t do much until she was recovered from their ordeal. He thought it a little strange that he felt fine while she had fainted. He wondered if it was because of his experience with telekinesis or if it had to do with the other injuries she had sustained in the past weeks. He left food and drinks for her in her room. The first time he put a plate and a mug on her nightstand, he noticed how neat her room was. This was partly because she always cleaned up all her clothes immediately but it also looked so bare because she didn’t have any personal possessions. Where the others had books, pictures of loved ones and little mementos, she had nothing at all.

For a couple of days, Eir just slept a lot. She ate most of the food Andros brought her and the first day she changed into her pajamas but most of the time she slept. She seemed exhausted from the connection she had made with Andros. Zhane and Karone noticed that Andros wasn’t quite himself either. Most of the time he was in his own world, scanning through his mind to try and make sense of the images Eir had shown him. He tried to talk to her about it a few times because she was the only one who could understand, but it was difficult to have a conversation with someone who couldn’t talk. Eir didn’t seem interested in another try. She had shown Andros all she could for now, all she thought he could eventually understand.


End file.
